Roche fourth as Calmejane wins eighth stage of the Tour

Demare, who nearly came a cropper along the barriers down the inside of Alexander Kristoff in the sprint finish to the 216km stage from Vesoul to Troyes, acknowledged that Sagan's absence changed things, but insisted he'd had a good chance of claiming the jersey anyway.

He did not make contact with the same success or conviction as Mark Renshaw in 2010 - an incident that led to his disqualification - but as he took a similar line to Cavendish along the railings, Alexander Kristoff certainly appeared to object. I'm in great shape, I'm super happy that the team supported me so well today.

Britain's Chris Froome had a minor scare when he went off the road in a descent, but the Team Sky rider kept his cool in sweltering heat to retain the overall leader's yellow jersey.

"This weekend, we will see exactly where everyone's at", Froome said, explaining that the top 10 riders are still too close together for him to clearly identify one sole rival.

Libya's Crude Output Hits a New High Just as Oil Prices Rebound
At 8:52am EDT on Thursday, WTI Crude was up 1.16 percent at US$45.26, while Brent Crude was trading up 1.18 percent at US$47.87. Hedge funds are wary of undesirable exposures after the nine month OPEC oil freeze extension that would end in March 2018.

"That was a tough day, especially with Sunday's decisive day to come", said Froome, who has claimed the yellow jersey as victor of the Tour de France three of the last four years.

There is going to be a real shake up and we will get a far better understanding of who is where.

"They took me all the way to the line with a flawless lead out", Boasson Hagen said.

Sprint safety will be the buzz word on the Tour de France sixth stage on Thursday following world champion Peter Sagan's disqualification.

But at the end of the first mountain summit finish of this year's race, the overall standings took on a familiar look as the overall contenders flexed their muscles for the first time. But the organizers systematically zoomed in and saw Kittel winning by the slimmest of margins so he got the win and the Green Jersey. The weather forecast for the weekend is rainstorms, which is going to make things even more hard. Three climbs on the 116-mile route will serve as a warm-up for the extremely tough Stage 9 in the Alps on Sunday, which has seven climbs, including three with the "hors categorie" or beyond rating. Hors Category means they're steeper and longer than any other climbs in the Tour, so this weekend will suit my climbing cousin Dan Martin.

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